We took a quick glance again at the license plate on the Vauxhall Astra VXR we unveiled to you in today's Morning Shift and did a double take. Ignoring, for a moment, the 280 HP and 290 lb-ft of torque, this may actually be our new favorite thing about GM's upcoming hot hatch. »11/04/11 12:30pm 11/04/11 12:30pm

The first self-service junkyard I ever experienced was an Oakland outfit called U-Pull-It. Its logo featured a Q*bert-esque alien raygunning parts and the whole outfit was housed in a roofless abandoned factory building. This U-Pull-it in Scotland isn't like that. »7/17/10 11:00am 7/17/10 11:00am

We've already seen the 2010 Opel Astra and its Volkswagen-y nose and a touch of Mazda3 hiney, but this is the first look at the Vauxhall re-badge and a first glimpse at what looks like a handsome Insignia-like interior. »6/18/09 4:15pm 6/18/09 4:15pm

The Astra hasn't sold well in the States, but that doesn't mean that its Euro-trash cousin can't make a comeback tour. Take a peak at the handsomely-designed 2010 Opel Astra and its agro-counterpart, the GTC. »4/09/09 4:00pm 4/09/09 4:00pm

Another day of filming Transformers 2 has unveiled some key insights. The first is that Transformers 2 will feature robots; in this particular case, a sort of smaller, dragon-like Transformer who feeds on whomever is inside that vehicle. Given that most of the scenes filmed at Princeton University have featured the … »7/01/08 2:40pm 7/01/08 2:40pm

While on a testing field trip in the Austrian Alps, GM engineers managed to wander into the range of a wild pack of KGP photographers, giving us a bit more of a solid look at the pending 2010 Opel Astra, and by extension, the next version of the 2011 Saturn Astra. Though the outside camo makes us want to play… »5/28/08 10:40am 5/28/08 10:40am

All of those would-be Saturn Astra tuners could do worse than aping the Astra VXR Nürburgring Edition, which is the speedier trim level of the Vauxhall version of GM's global small car platform. Mechanically similar to the VXR, the hot hatch is good for 240 hp, enough to propel it to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds and an… »12/18/07 10:45am 12/18/07 10:45am

Some skeptics say the hatchback will never return en mass to the states. Others say high gas prices will release demand for such odd-door models, just like during the great hatch invasion of the late-1970s. Of course, the new (for the US) Saturn Astra is no bargain-basement hatch; GM announced it'll start at nearly… »10/09/07 1:15pm 10/09/07 1:15pm

It's not Space Camp, it's race camp. It's OPC Race Camp, a racing talent casting call, for which Opel provides the cars. Its aim is to assemble a team that will participate in the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring in 2008. But first, there's a car to mention. It's the Astra OPC Nürburgring Edition, a limited-run model… »8/28/07 3:59pm 8/28/07 3:59pm